


Luck

by Belsmomaus



Series: Malec - Advent Calendar 2018 [4]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Humor, M/M, Magnus POV, Smug Magnus, a touch of sexiness, fun without plot, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-15 15:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16935429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belsmomaus/pseuds/Belsmomaus
Summary: Clary decides that it’s time Madzie gets to play some mundane board games.In fact, she decides that it’s time that her shadowhunter family as well as a certain warlock need to learn a bit about the mundane world. In other words: board games.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Since a strike currently keeps me from getting to work I thought I could post this piece right now instead of in the evening... so, enjoy this early delivery ;D
> 
> The whole story is really just one big silly piece of fun. There's not much if any plot to it, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. I just couldn't resist writing this and although I didn't like how it turned out at all at first I came to really like it, simply because imagining this with our beloved characters makes me laugh.
> 
> In fact, writing this had been more difficult than I expected. I had a lot of games in mind when I planned this story and realized afterwards that I had no idea if they even existed in the US. It took a surprising amount of research - which was also surprisingly interesting - to find everything that I was looking for, including the vocabulary for certain card or board games. I hope I did them justice and didn't make too many mistakes. If you find any, feel free to let me know!
> 
> Now there's only one thing left to say: Have fun!

_**Luck** _

Magnus

 

“Oh, come on! _Again_?”

“I don’t believe this!”

“Hey, no cheating!”

Those exclamations were music to Magnus’ ears. He shrugged nonchalantly, his hands and arms spread out at his side in a gesture that said “what can I do?”. The overly innocent expression on his face with that “sorry, but not sorry” glint, that was undoubtedly there in his eyes, probably wasn’t helping. Not that he cared. With a pointed gesture he reached across the board, grabbed his purple piece and moved it forward the exact same amount as the number on the dice said. The sound it made when it touched down each time was like a countdown. Each _tap_ brought him closer to the light green piece in front of him. Each _tap_ mocking Jace as he locked innocent eyes with him right as he pushed the green piece aside, planted his own and put the green one back into Jace’s nest. Much to the blond’s displeasure.

They’re in the middle of a game. Some mundane board game. He’d forgotten the name again. Had Clary ever even called it by name? Or Simon? No, not that he could think of. She’d only said it was similar to-- something else he’d forgotten. Pasisi? Parchani? Something like that, but not quite. It was the Dutch version of said game, which was slightly different, but for eight people instead of four? Something Simon had found at a garage sale as a kid? To be honest, he hadn’t paid all that much attention – especially when Simon had started rambling – still a bit miffed at the insinuation that Alec and himself were lacking as babysitters.

A trip to Italy, playing in the shallow waters of the ocean on black sand on a private beach, strolling through Rome and trying out different ice cream parlors to make absolutely sure they got the best ice cream in the city, how was that not an excellent babysitting job?

A day full of hands-on games in his loft – the laughter and running and crashing and triumphant sounds still made him smile – that all turned out to be a little bit more than games. They all taught something about hiding, tracking and defending oneself. It had taken even him a while to realize what Alec was doing. And a picnic in the park afterwards to relax. How was that not an excellent babysitting job?

Madzie certainly had enjoyed both.

But he didn’t even have to look to know that she enjoyed this, right here, just as much. The way she eagerly rolled the dice, the way her eyes lit up the first time she got one of her pieces home or the wicked grin on her lips each time she got to kick someone else back to their nest. She _did_ enjoy this. A lot.

His gaze lingered a while longer on Jace, on the unveiled resentment on his face and the silent challenge in his eyes. Yes, maybe Madzie had the right idea. Maybe Clary and Simon had been right all along. This _would_ be fun after all.

With Catarina away for a few days she’d left Madzie in their capable hands. And after one day of “over-the-top warlock babysitting” and one day of “secret shadowhunter training”, as Clary had called it, the feisty redhead had declared that it was time for some mundane babysitting fun. Which had led to her deciding that it wouldn’t hurt _any_ of them to learn some mundane things and two hours later she’d shown up at his door with Simon as mundane moral support, her shadowhunter friends and an odd collection of boxes with colorful pictures and even odder names. And you really didn’t want to get in the way when this girl had set her mind on something, even if it was teaching a bunch of oblivious warlocks and nephilim about mundane board games.

And this was how they had all found themselves here, in the living room of his loft, sitting around a big wooden table – dark and exquisite, of course – conjured on Clary’s insistence: Jace, Clary, Simon, Izzy and Madzie, Alec and himself. Playing this whatever-its-name-was game where you had to move your own four pieces from their nest over the board to the safety of your home before the others did. Ideally without the others catching up to you and pushing your pieces aside and back to their nest to start all over again like he’d just done with Jace.

They’re in the middle of their first game and starting to get the hang of it – Madzie faster than anyone else – and it was actually more fun than he would’ve thought. Especially since he was on a roll! The dice was clearly on his side, allowing him to systematically kick the others off and let them begin anew while he simply strolled across the board towards his home.

Jace was clearly annoyed. Clary and Simon groaned in frustration each time it was his turn and Izzy got more and more vocal about ‘not cheating’.

“Yeah, no magic!” Jace was quick to agree.

Yes, this _was_ fun after all.

Alec’s competitive streak was starting to show. He could tell by the twitching of his muscles every time he clenched his jaw when his own moves didn’t end up the way he wanted. Or by the fire in his eyes whenever he frowned at the board after one of Magnus’ moves and then at him with that little smile that said “you may try”.

He was oddly enjoying this. And so was Madzie, her tongue sticking out each time she threw the dice. She laughed and grinned in triumph each time she got to kick someone back to their nest and she pouted and growled whenever something didn’t work out her way. But only for a moment, then that good-natured grin was back.

At his next throw – he kicked off Izzy and then brought his piece home as well – the argument started for real.

“Okay, _that_ is _not_ normal!” Simon huffed.

“Magnus, come on,” Izzy whined and slapped his shoulder with the back of her hand, “that’s not fair!”

“Yeah, no magic!” Jace came down on him, his nostrils flaring. He was seriously pissed. Which only confirmed Magnus suspicion that between the two competitive brothers Jace was the sore loser, whereas Alec got spurred on even more by losing.

He put on his best innocent face, enjoying this immensely, although they were all over him with their quick and petty accusations. “Hey, don’t blame me. If anything, blame the dice. I don’t need magic to win a game. Ask Alexander if you don’t believe me.”

All eyes switched to Alec who held his gaze. “That was billiard. But this here is a game of chance.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow, feigning a hurt look. “You don’t trust me?”

Alec sighed. “Magnus, it’s not-”

“Yes, it is!” interrupted Jace. “Just cut it, okay?”

“Magnus isn’t cheating,” declared an unexpected voice with absolute conviction. It was Madzie, looking at all the grown-ups with a slight frown. Either she couldn’t understand the sudden distrust among the group towards him or she didn’t like it and the others realized it as well. “He’s _not_ cheating. I would feel his magic.”

Magnus gave her a warm smile and a graceful nod – more of a half-bow – before he addressed the rest of the table with a grin that was possibly on the wrong side of annoying, if only to infuriate Jace further. With a shrug, a small wink and his voice like velvet he said: “Just luck I guess.”

Jace glowered and growled. “Just luck my ass!”

Jace jolted all of a sudden, no doubt from a kick under the table from Alec, who currently fixed his brother with a dark, intense and mostly imploring look and a pointed nod towards the only child at the table. Who giggled into her hand – probably more due to the whole spectacle than the shadowhunter’s bad language.

At least Jace had the decency to look chastised.

“Alright, enough of this,” Clary intervened, put the dice away and, after some rummaging, presented them with a different one. “We use another one.”

“But that was my lucky one!” Magnus objected.

“Exactly!”

“Alright, alright,” he raised his hands in surrender as he was faced with that chorus of six voices. He spared a quick betrayed glance at Madzie – _et tu, Brutus?_ – then leaned back with a resigned ‘fine’. He took it in stride as Simon kicked one of his pieces out and as Jace and Izzy both managed to bring the first of their pieces home.

It was his turn again. He threw the new dice, stoically refrained from a triumphant laugh at the number and instead pushed the one piece he currently had in the game forward with an innocent smile. And kicked Alec’s dark blue piece out right in front of his home.

Alec looked up sharply. “You’ll pay for this!”

And that’s how it all started.

 

 

***

 

 

Magnus won the game. By far.

Not Jace, but Alec demanded a rematch – not that it came as a surprise for him. Madzie did as well. Although he still wasn’t sure if she really liked the game or just enjoyed how it turned a group of deadly soldiers into arguing little kids.

Anyway, they did the rematch.

And his lucky streak continued, much to the frustration and disbelief of everyone around the table. Alec’s competitive nature roared up for good this time around. And so did Jace’.

As if he had any control over a simple game of chance. But hey, he was always up for a competition. It was thrilling. And fun.

He won again.

“Seriously???” Izzy still glared at the board as if the result might just magically change if she tried hard enough.

Clary groaned and buried her head in her folded arms on the table, while Simon kept muttering under his breath. Madzie grinned – she came a close second. Jace had murder in his eyes, figuratively speaking, and Alec- well, Alec glared at him with this delicious combination of dark intensity and cocky promises. He was _on_.

Jace snapped the dice from the table and twirled it right in front of his eyes. “He _has_ to be doing something with the dice!”

Izzy snorted. “You _think_?”

Just as Clary said: “Come on, Magnus wouldn’t. Right?”

“You know I can hear you?” he reminded them, amused, although the accusations did get old after a while.

Alec ignored him, but he looked him right in the eye as he leaned back in his seat, his arms crossed in front of his chest and responded to his brother’s comment. “I don’t think so, Jace.”

“But _look_ at that smug grin!” Jace waved a hand in his direction to make a point.

And he wasn’t wrong. He _was_ grinning. And it _was_ smug – he’d won a second time after all.

“I am,” Alec said, calm and still holding his gaze, a small, knowing smile dancing across the corners of his lips. “It’s not his ‘haha, I have you exactly where I want you’ grin. Believe me.”

Alec’s eyebrow twitched upwards for just a second in a pretty suggestive way.

One that Magnus answered just in kind, his pride clearly showing at his boyfriends skill at reading him like an open book.

Simon inhaled with a drawn out hissing noise and grimaced. “That’s more than I ever wanted to know!” He shuddered. “Alright, why don’t we try something different?”

So Madzie picked Jenga.

Which Magnus promptly won.

 

 

***

 

 

It turned out that a game that put their dexterity or better the steadiness of their hands to the test in a group of mostly shadowhunter was a tough challenge. With their bodies trained from early childhood they had every muscle under perfect control. And Clary with her history in painting had the steadiest hands he’d ever seen. But Madzie and him were warlocks and magic could be a fickle thing. It was channeled through the hands. To keep it controlled, your movements had to be controlled as well.

They stacked that tower to incredible heights, leaving it a wobbling mess. With each new stone on top Simon whined about how crazy and impossible they all were. Clumsy as he was it was a miracle he didn’t render their efforts void two rounds in.

It was surprising, though, that something so simple like stacking little wooden blocks, could arouse such ambition. Even within himself. Within moments he found himself sharing the thrill of watching the others, encouraging them or irritating them, whichever took his fancy. And he found himself testing the stability of different blocks and nudging and pushing and pulling at little blocks with the same level of concentration he put into his potions.

Izzy was the one who touched that wobbly thing that one time too much. And since he had been the last to touch it without crashing it, he’d won.

Much to the other’s annoyance.

He hadn’t waited for the demand of a rematch, it was written more than clearly all over Jace’ and Alec’s faces. With a snap of his fingers and an elegant swirl of his hand the blocks put themselves back together again.

They played it two more times.

Changed directions from counterclockwise to clockwise and the second time they changed their seating arrangements altogether – per demand by Jace and Alec – but still, he defied all probability by winning yet again. Both games.

It was pure luck.

Not that Jace believed that. “That’s impossible!”

And Magnus winked. “’Impossible’ is my middle name!”

Alec’s eyebrow rose to skeptical heights as he tilted his head. “And here I thought ‘too much’ was your middle name. Or was that a lie?”

Izzy almost choked on her drink.

He nearly suffered the same fate if he hadn’t just swallowed the last drops of his martini. “Actually,” he delivered in all seriousness, “it’s Magnus Too Much Impossible Bane.”

Madzie cracked up first. Then Izzy. A moment later they’re all laughing like a bunch of lunatics.

 

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penny for your thoughts?!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madzie might be off to bed, but that doesn't mean the games night is over. Not as long as Jace and Alec are still on a mission to beat Magnus...

 

“So, mission accomplished! You taught Madzie some mundane games,” Simon said.

Jace crossed his arms on the table with a challenging glance towards him. “Clary might have accomplished her mission, but I haven’t.”

Alec snorted. “What, you think _you_ will be the one to finally beat him? Keep on dreaming!”

Magnus smirked. “You really think you can win against me? Then bring it on!”

Izzy rolled her eyes at their antics, but she still eyed the games Simon put on the table curiously. There were new ones among them, ones he hadn’t shown them earlier when Madzie had still been with them. But it had gotten late and after a quick break for conjured pizza they’d put the little girl in bed. She’d vehemently denied being tired, like every other child would have as well, yawning and with drooping eyes. She’d been asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

One of the new colorful boxes caught his attention, the name sticking out, inviting him with its obviousness. There was no other way.

“This one!” he declared and pointed at it.

Simon’s face lit up. “Wizard. Excellent choice! Well, Fantasy-Wizard, to be precise, but...”

Clary and Simon started explaining, taking turns, and the more he heard the bigger his grin got: yes, he liked this card game already. Whoever invented this had the right idea. The wizard card trumped every other card in the game.

He listened to them talking about which card trumped which, how trump suit got determined each round and that you had to predict how many tricks you were gonna make each round after only looking at your own cards. You were then awarded points if your prediction came true and you lost points if you were wrong.

It was easy enough. Although…

“Let’s make this more interesting!” He snapped his fingers, waved his hands in a quick circle across the game cards and, for a second, they sparkled with blue magic.

“Hey! My cards!” Simon wailed. “What did you do?”

Magnus grinned. “See for yourself.”

And he watched as Simon spread the cards out and stared, as did the others.

Clary shared his amusement. “That is so much cooler than before!”

The cards that had formerly been parted in four different colors, depicting elves, dwarves, humans and giants with numbers from 1 to 13 had changed. The green cards showed fey now instead of elves, the yellow ones werewolves instead of giants, the red ones vampires instead of dwarves and the humans on the blue cards had turned into runed shadowhunters, holding steles and seraph blades. The four trump cards, the wizards, were now warlocks. And the four jesters, the ones that never won, had turned into mundanes.

“Why should the warlocks be the trump cards?” Jace protested with a mocking tone.

Magnus rolled his eyes, answering just in kind. “Because the game is called ‘Wizard’, not ‘Angel’, duh?!”

“Okay,” Alec said, effectively ending their squabbling. There was the same light in his eyes as that night at the billiard table. “Lets play!”

And they did.

Alec was good at this, really good. This game was all about strategy and factoring in different possibilities, both played right into Alec’s hand. Clary played this game exactly like she went about her life: impulsive. Which sometimes worked, but most of the times it didn’t. Not even by far.

It showed that Simon had experience with this game. Still, he was no match for Alec or him.

Sure, he had never played this game before, but thinking ahead, taking all possibilities into account, playing your trumps at the right time and being willing to take a risk every now and then, well, he knew a thing or two about those.

It’s fun. Even more so than the games before. Because now you had to _think_ about what you did. This wasn’t just luck. And – not to brag or anything – but his little changes to the game certainly made for some interesting exclamations.

“Ha! Low level shadowhunter trumps your big ass vampire boss!” Izzy to Clary.

“Nice Downworld council you got there, Alec,” Magnus said, looking at the trick Alec was definitely going to win since he played a warlock on top of a shadowhunter, a vampire, a fey and a werewolf. He was supposed to play a werewolf if he had one, which he did. A good one. But he wouldn’t let the others wangle his trump cards off him like that. “But you forgot to invite the mundanes.” He played the card and grinned. “Certainly makes a council meeting more interesting.”

“That one’s mine!” “No, it’s not, because _I_ got the alpha. _My_ pack!” And Alec quickly collected his trick with a wicked grin towards his brother.

“Why,” Simon whined later on, “why?? That’s the sixth time in a row I had the seelie queen and didn’t manage to make the trick with it. You should think with a queen in your hand nothing can go wrong, but hey, surprise, the seelie queen doesn’t work like that.”

They counted their points in the end.

Frustration spiked.

And Magnus smirked.

He’d won again.

 

 

***

 

 

It’s dark outside, or not yet light again would probably more accurate. Even he caught himself yawning from time to time. Clary was asleep on the couch, her head in Izzy’s lap who sipped languidly on a mojito, her eyes heavier than at the beginning of this endeavor. Simon had also struck his colors maybe two rounds ago. It was just Jace, Alec and him.

They’d tried it all.

Countless rounds of ‘Wizard’ and ‘Citadelles’, one endless game of ‘Settlers’ and in the end Simon had thrown them some painted wooden sticks that he’d called ‘meekadoo’ or something like that.

Didn’t matter.

He’d won each and every one of them.

If it weren’t so much fun to rub it in Jace’ and Alec’s faces it would probably freak him out a little, because so much luck wasn’t normal.

“Guys, that’s seriously the last thing I’ve got,” Simon said and brought up the last box.

Izzy groaned and threw her head back. “Come on, just let it be. You can’t beat him. He’s Magnus Bane, the unbeatable game master of Brooklyn. He’ll just wipe the floor with your asses again. _I_ _wanna go home_!”

“She’s got a point,” Magnus said.

“You are _not_ unbeatable!” Alec interrupted him right away. “I should know.”

He rolled his eyes. “I meant Izzy is right. It _is_ very late. Or early. Madzie will soon be awake again and I for one would like a little sleep before that.”

“Fine.” Jace crossed his arms and put on his best serious shadowhunter face. “This one is the last one.”

Magnus thought about it, then nodded. “Alright. One last round. What is it you got for us this time, Simon?”

“Oh, uh, ‘Twister’.”

Simon explained, Jace’s eyebrows climbed new heights, Alec grinned that sly smile that usually meant nothing good. Even Izzy sat up straighter now, pursing her lips as she tried not to laugh. “Well, well, well, this should be good.”

‘Good’ wouldn’t be the word he would’ve used. Within minutes their limbs were tied into one big knot and his joints were pulled in unnatural directions while trying to meet the demands of the game.

“Oh no, that blue one is _mine_!” Alec cried.

Magnus huffed. “Get your knee out of my back!”

It was certainly interesting. And challenging.

Alec reached forward to a yellow dot, effectively trapping his head and right shoulder underneath his arm and forcing them closer to the ground. “Comfy darling?” he asked with the most saccharine voice he’d ever heard.

He was deliciously close to Alec, a shoulder pressed against an arm, a leg touching a stomach, breathing down the other’s neck. So close he wanted to grab him and pull him flush against him or bury his hand in his hair, _this wasn’t close enough_ , but he couldn’t touch, not as long as his hands had to stay on certain colorful dots. Instead he got far more bodily contact with Jace than he’d ever desired. Although there were ways to use that as a weapon of sorts.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Jace shouted. He didn’t need to see the blond’s face to imagine the horrified expression there. “No Magnus! Don’t you dare! _Don’t you_ \-- _MAGNUS_!!! Oh, you’re such an ass!”

“And a magnificent one at that!” he grinned, his left leg on green now, and waggled his bottom a bit for show, a mere inch away from Jace’ face. But only because Jace pulled his head back as far as he could.

“ARE YOU FILMING THIS????” Alec cried out, incredulous.

Izzy’s laugh was answer enough. “Of course I am! No one’s gonna believe this if I tell them! And _this_ is pure gold!”

It’s Jace who fell first. They’d managed to push him into an impossible position. His arms were shaking with the effort of holding himself up like this and in the end he simply plopped down to the floor, rolled to the side, out of the way and stayed there, too exhausted to even care that he just lost. “You know what, I’m out.”

All the better, now they had more space and it was only Alec to rub up against.

It’s like foreplay. Touching here and there, breathing into each other’s space, always torturously close and yet out of reach.

He’s trapped and it’s his own fault. He should’ve chosen a different green dot for his leg earlier. Now it was too late. He was holding himself up with his arms behind him on the ground and his feet spread out in front of him. His shoulders started to ache already. He really needed a change of position soon. Alec was above him, his body like a bridge. Each time he breathed in his stomach touched Magnus’ chest. Their gazes met out of the corners of their eyes.

He was so damn tired and he just wanted to press this gorgeous man close and kiss him senseless!

Why was he doing this again?

“Ready to give up?” Alec grinned smugly.

_Yes, just kiss me already!_

“You wish!”

“Magnus, right leg on blue.”

Alright, he moved his leg, pulled it closer to get some weight from his arms. If that motion made his leg brush along Alec’s, well, he was a man who liked to indulge.

Alec wobbled all of a sudden.

Then everything happened surprisingly quick. Alec tried to rearrange his hand to stabilize himself, his elbow knocked against Magnus. His balance, already a precarious thing, was history. That’s when Alec crashed into him and together they fell down on the mat, Alec right on top of him.

“Ha,” Alec laughed and pulled back just enough to look down at him, “I win!”

“ _You_ win? You lost your balance first!”

Another smug grin answered him. “But _you_ are the one on the ground, aren’t you?”

He narrowed his eyes for a second, then grabbed his boyfriend and rolled them around in one quick motion until he was on top. “Not anymore.”

Alec’s hands were suddenly at the back of his head and neck, pulling him close and into that kiss he’d longed for ever since they started this game.

He heard Simon somewhere behind him. “Doesn’t it say: lucky at cards, unlucky in love?” A snort. “This doesn’t seem fair.”

Maybe this would’ve been the right moment to disentangle and call it a night, but now that he finally had his Alexander close, tasted his lips and nipped his tongue, stopping was the last thing on his mind. Instead he pressed even closer, buried his fingers into that dark hair.

Alec moaned.

Or was that him?

Who cared?

There were voices behind him. They registered on some level, but he couldn’t be bothered to care.

“Get a room!” Jace whined.

Izzy yawned. “Where do they get the energy at this hour?”

“Should-- should we leave?” Simon asked.

“Oh no,” Izzy was quick to object, “I’m gonna watch this!”

“No, you’re not!” said Jace.

There was some commotion behind them, at some point Clary’s sleep-addled voice added to the mix and after some more shuffling and rustling the door clicked shut and it was blissfully quiet around them.

“Was that the door?”

“Mmh,” he hummed against Alexander’s lips, “we’re alone again.”

“Oh, good! Because I won.” Before Magnus knew it he was on his back again, Alec on top of him, holding his hands down beside his head with his own. Mirth was dancing in his hazel eyes. “And I want to claim my price!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone who doesn't know the game 'Wizard': it's really a lot of fun (especially if you're more than four people), I can highly recommend it!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you had at least half as much fun as I had writing this. 
> 
> Feel free to share your thoughts ;)


End file.
